An unbiased look at Clausen

[jpo287]

Just found this over at profootballfocus.com.

The rookie lumps keep coming for Jimmy Clausen (+0.1). His awareness of the play clock indicates he’s not quite up to the speed of how the NFL works, and his accuracy was questionable at best. His line did a great job giving him time (or the Saints’ pass rush did a poor job, depending on perspective), but he followed this up by completing 9 of 17 passes when not faced with pressure and getting overly happy feet on a further two dropbacks. Perhaps the best thing is he didn’t throw a pick and he’s not making the mistakes Matt Moore did, but he’s a long way from looking NFL-ready.

There's more stuff there but some of it contradicts what most people on this board think so a lot of you won't want to waste your time.

http://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2010/10/04/re-focused-week-4-carolina-at-new-orleans/

[CatMan72]

So some random guy writes this on his blog and you've decided it's an "unbiased" professional assessment of Clausen's performance because it says what you want to hear.

How about we all take a deep breath and let this Clausen thing play out... we're not going to the playoffs this year, so what do we have to lose?

[MadHatter]

As soon as they said our OLine did a great job giving him time, I knew that the author did not actually watch the game.

[Davidson Deac II]

I don't think the line gave him much time. He had to move around a lot. Other than that, I agree with the article. He made some great plays, and some not so great ones. About what I expect out of a rookie.

I don't think we will find out what we have in Clausen for a year or two.

[panthers55]

Actually pro-foootballfocus is a pretty good site. They actually look at every play and evaluate it numerically. They have a premium site portion of the website (you have to pay for it) that gives you a breakdown of every player based on how they perform evey game.

Here is an exerpt from their about section:

Grading

1) Why do we grade?

The goal of our detailed grading process is to gauge how players execute their roles over the course of a game by looking at the performance of each individual on each play. We look beyond the stat sheet at game footage to try to gain an understanding of how well a lineman is blocking on a given play, how much space and help a runner is being given on a play, how effectively a pass rusher brings pressure or how well a defender covers a receiver.

We collect lots of extra statistics such as yards after catch, yards after contact, missed tackles, dropped passes etc., but our real focus is on grading individual performance on each play. Did an offensive lineman seal his block to spring the runner through a hole? Did a defensive lineman beat his block to force a runner to change the play direction in the backfield? Was the crucial third-down completion due to the quarterback beating the coverage or a breakdown in coverage?

We examine not just the statistical result of a play, but the context of that statistic. The defensive tackle may have made a tackle on a play, but if it was third and 5 and he got blown 4 yards off of the ball to make the tackle after a 6-yard gain, that’s not a good play.

This allows us to present a unique set of statistics for individual player performance in each game. We present base statistics alongside more advanced statistics together with a grade for every player. The marks are presented as overall composite grades but are also broken down in a number of key areas:

Offense

- Running

- Passing and receiving

- Pass protection

- Run blocking

- Screen blocking

Defense

- Run defense

- Pass rushing

- Pass coverag

As for Clausen, they are simply saying what many folks outside of Carolina and the homers are saying, we are a pretty bad team and Clausen is a rookie making lots of mistakes who many question whether he is NFL ready.

As for the O-line

All he said was that Sxhwartz looked pretty good. When Otah comes back I expect that Schwartz will slide to guard and Bernadeau will be the backup.

[HPPantherzfan]

^^ agree

the clock management issues has to be fixed fast though. I don't care if you're not getting the plays you still have to know how much time is on that clock.

He cleaned up the botched snaps from center last week, lets see if he cleans up the clock management this week.

[Catdaddy]

If you remember college football changed their play clock sytem a few years ago to the same as the NFL, so Jimmy is use to the clock system. I Still think our OC is calling them into slow to Moore, who in turn relays them to Jimmy. I don't see why he is even calling plays in when it looks like we have just four plays. He should just let Jimmy mix them up like he wants.

[CLTPanther]

while this is no excuse, i read they could not hear anything in the helmets and had to relay plays in by hand from Moore. probably the loudest place he's ever played in, so its to be expected it takes some getting used to. lets see if he improves again this week. he's still better than Moore

[Lumps]

All can be coached. These are all rookie mistakes. Not decision making mistakes which are more important than anything. His accuracy can be worked with, but everything else (timing of the game, time on clock) are rookie mistakes. He isn't making the plays that gives you reason to believe he can't do it, like Moore throwing INTs and breaking all the rules as a QB while doing them. I just think people are optimistic, how many games has it been since our qb did not throw 1 int? Right now all I watch by Clausen is the decision making.

How can everyone support Matt when he became our QB over Jake but when he stinks it up, the FO made a good choice not feeling the need to go through another 09 season and now Clausen appears to be making better decisions to not lose the game\. It was smart to get a look at Clausen this year. All panther fans should cheer Clausen on just like Moore is doing on the sidelines, the sooner the panthers find an adequate Qb the sooner they can build and will rebuild faster.

[PantherBrew]

This is hilarious.

[Hairless Cat]

If you remember college football changed their play clock sytem a few years ago to the same as the NFL, so Jimmy is use to the clock system. I Still think our OC is calling them into slow to Moore, who in turn relays them to Jimmy. I don't see why he is even calling plays in when it looks like we have just four plays. He should just let Jimmy mix them up like he wants.

did the clock management issues happen when he had communication problems?

how is that his fault?

[Catdaddy]

did the clock management issues happen when he had communication problems?

how is that his fault?

It's not his fault

[CRA]

All can be coached. These are all rookie mistakes. Not decision making mistakes which are more important than anything. His accuracy can be worked with, but everything else (timing of the game, time on clock) are rookie mistakes. He isn't making the plays that gives you reason to believe he can't do it, like Moore throwing INTs and breaking all the rules as a QB while doing them. I just think people are optimistic, how many games has it been since our qb did not throw 1 int? Right now all I watch by Clausen is the decision making.

How can everyone support Matt when he became our QB over Jake but when he stinks it up, the FO made a good choice not feeling the need to go through another 09 season and now Clausen appears to be making better decisions to not lose the game\. It was smart to get a look at Clausen this year. All panther fans should cheer Clausen on just like Moore is doing on the sidelines, the sooner the panthers find an adequate Qb the sooner they can build and will rebuild faster.

b/c until Clausen gets comfortable to really start looking downfield and trying to make plays.....we won't know if he is better than Moore. Jimmy is trying to play safe and Jimmy is trying to understand the NFL QB position.......

the so called Moore fanboys support Jimmy. The Jimmy fanboys are simply claiming Jimmy is a few steps ahead of where he is....

[Davidson Deac II]

did the clock management issues happen when he had communication problems?

how is that his fault?

Its certainly not all his fault, but he does bear some responsibility for it. The QB needs to have some idea as to how much time is on the playclock.